Snacks & Drinks Ordering Guide: Parties, Movie Nights and Office

For a two to three hour gathering, plan roughly 100 g of salty snacks, one sweet item, and 500-700 ml of beverages per adult. For a movie night of four, two large chips packs, one namkeen, popcorn and a 2 litre soft drink is close to right.

Double the beverage estimate in summer and add ice. Drinks run out long before food at every Indian gathering.

Mix one fried salty item, one baked or roasted item, one nut or trail mix, one sweet, and something fresh such as cut fruit or a dip with vegetable sticks. That mix prevents the table feeling heavy after 30 minutes.

Dips do a lot of work for very little cost: hummus, salsa, cheese dip or a simple curd-and-mint dip lift plain crackers and chips.

Family gathering: soft drinks, fruit juices, buttermilk, lemonade concentrate, tea and coffee. Office: coffee, tea, flavoured milk, canned juice, and packaged water.

Movie night: cola, iced tea, energy drinks and a soda for mixing. Keep one sugar-free option and one plain water option available; someone always needs it.

Under ₹500 for four: two chips packs, one namkeen, one biscuit pack, a 2 litre soft drink. Under ₹1,000 for six: add nuts, popcorn, a dip, a chocolate pack and juice.

Under ₹2,000 for ten: add frozen snacks that fry in five minutes, a cheese and cracker plate, two beverage varieties and ice.

Check shop opening status before a late order and order from a single shop so the whole table arrives together. Cold drinks are best ordered chilled from a shop that refrigerates them rather than chilled at home in a hurry.

For unexpected guests, the fastest reliable basket is chips, biscuits, a cold drink and ice cream — every participating shop stocks it.